Pep Boys...... what a ****ing joke......

[black dawg]

I would hope the person that put those brake pads on was a rookie, but either way thay dont have what it takes to work on cars, and shouldnt.

As far as being able to afford to get rid of bad customers, in the end, you cant afford NOT to get rid of them.

 

[Greg72]

A good mechanic is key. Find one you can trust and build a long-term relationship with them.

I had the same mechanic for my Porsche for almost 17 years. I was always amazed at how much he could figure out in the first 15 seconds of seeing my car.

He had the experience to recognize any little sound that wasn't "normal" (air cooled Porsches make lots of noises, most weird sounds are normal) and would catch stuff before it became a serious issue. I suppose it helped that I didn't ask him to cut corners or find used parts to install to save me money....but on the flip side, when I got my car back it was always FIXED. No "bring backs" or disappointments with his work.

-G

 

[76k5grrl]

A good mechanic is key. Find one you can trust and build a long-term relationship with them.

I had the same mechanic for my Porsche for almost 17 years. I was always amazed at how much he could figure out in the first 15 seconds of seeing my car.

He had the experience to recognize any little sound that wasn't "normal" (air cooled Porsches make lots of noises, most weird sounds are normal) and would catch stuff before it became a serious issue. I suppose it helped that I didn't ask him to cut corners or find used parts to install to save me money....but on the flip side, when I got my car back it was always FIXED. No "bring backs" or disappointments with his work.

-G

This is what I need.... A couple of you have pm'd me with some names in dfw, THOSE would be people I would trust -problem is most of them are 30 min+ from me so it's a bit of a production to get there and back

 

[TheBeast_88K5]

I meant "had enough work", kinda afford.
I don't have a plethora of jobs, therefore I take what I can get.

I couldn't even imagine someone nagging you, Paul....
Yer just so scary lookin'...

it's got nothing to do with being able to "afford" it... just move on to the next job, usually we're plenty busy.. you guys seem to think I have WAY more money than I do...

it's the fact I've been doing this chit way too long and work WAY too hard to have that kinda bs implied...

but it'd be a rare thing for that to happen, my regulars certainly know better, it'd have to be some noob customer watching too many tv news gotcha stories..

 

[454Sub]

People are ate up. My dad runs a tranny shop here and I have seen some nonsense. People see the tranny pan with a 1/4in of bronze and clutch material piled up in the bottom, and expect a flush and fluid change to fix the broken bands. Or want tranny fix fluid dumped in. Seen people wear the brakes down to where the caliper pistons are clunking into the rotors cooling vanes. And they say its only been making a noise for a few days. Or, seen people smoke a rod bearing and ask if I can rebuild it with the motor in the car, and drop the crank through the bottom. Now, I have done this on a Blazer in a village park where I live. But, I was 16, had no money, and wanted to go mudding. My favorite is, junkyard trannys. Well, the JUNKYARD said it was good. Like, seriously?

 

[Brian_D]

People are ate up. My dad runs a tranny shop here and I have seen some nonsense. People see the tranny pan with a 1/4in of bronze and clutch material piled up in the bottom, and expect a flush and fluid change to fix the broken bands. Or want tranny fix fluid dumped in. Seen people wear the brakes down to where the caliper pistons are clunking into the rotors cooling vanes. And they say its only been making a noise for a few days. Or, seen people smoke a rod bearing and ask if I can rebuild it with the motor in the car, and drop the crank through the bottom. Now, I have done this on a Blazer in a village park where I live. But, I was 16, had no money, and wanted to go mudding. My favorite is, junkyard trannys. Well, the JUNKYARD said it was good. Like, seriously?

junkyard trannys

 

[82355]

It's generally the customers fault, and they are telling a twisted version of the story.

Martin

 

[Chief Brody]

I have zero tolerance for any customer implying something like that.. zero...

see ya! have fun getting someone else to fix your POS boat....

Yoo tink that's funny? How am I funny? You tink my boat is a POS?

~ Joe Pesci to Ryoken

 

[ryoken]

lol, he remembers the story...

that's funny, we where having a birfday dinner for me last weekend, and my BIL was telling the story in his perfect Pesci impersonation... had us all rolling...

 

[rebelgregory]

I worked as a tech at Firestone while I was getting a mechanical engineering degree. I have 7 ASE certifications. I was very meticulous with customers' cars as I am with my own. However, everything posted so far is true.

1. Flat rate is dangerous - yes. Techs are in a hurry, working on multiple cars in various states of repair while waiting for parts/waiting to get off work/ etc. Things get forgotten. I test drove every vehicle I worked on for this reason.

2. Techs are stupid - yes...and no. There really are some good ones out there. How do you find them? They'll be the ones with too much work to be able to get to yours any time soon. Flip side - a lot of shops will let the 'oil and tire change guy' dabble in brakes/shocks, etc if the techs are busy. This is ok to me, but their work needs to be supervised...and it's not.

3. Customers are stupid - yes. Most believe that cars run on magic unicorns that feed on petroleum. They don't know and don't care what's wrong with it. They want it fixed for less than $100 or you're screwing them. Nevermind that they ignored the $30 brake squeal...and then the $300 brake grind...and decided to bring it in when the caliper piston is grinding on the rotor vents. "It just started making this sound".....riiiiiight.

4. Shops will screw you - in a heartbeat and salesmen feed on the above-mentioned customer stupidity. The worst thing a customer could ever say is "is that bad?" Example: "Sir, your car overheated because the fan clutch went out". Customer - "Is that bad?" Salesman - "Weeeelllll, yes sir, we're going to have to replace your fan clutch, radiator and all hoses to eliminate all the 'overheat' from the system. You also have some other scheduled maintenance items you've missed. Here's a list..." I can't tell you how many times I got a sales ticket back from the counter with stuff that I didn't even recommend.

I've never gone to a shop since I left that job. I handle my fleet myself. I consider myself at least as qualified as anyone I'd take it to anyway. They only exception would be tire mount/balance and alignment.

 

[496truck]

I worked as a tech at Firestone while I was getting a mechanical engineering degree. I have 7 ASE certifications. I was very meticulous with customers' cars as I am with my own. However, everything posted so far is true.

1. Flat rate is dangerous - yes. Techs are in a hurry, working on multiple cars in various states of repair while waiting for parts/waiting to get off work/ etc. Things get forgotten. I test drove every vehicle I worked on for this reason.

2. Techs are stupid - yes...and no. There really are some good ones out there. How do you find them? They'll be the ones with too much work to be able to get to yours any time soon. Flip side - a lot of shops will let the 'oil and tire change guy' dabble in brakes/shocks, etc if the techs are busy. This is ok to me, but their work needs to be supervised...and it's not.

3. Customers are stupid - yes. Most believe that cars run on magic unicorns that feed on petroleum. They don't know and don't care what's wrong with it. They want it fixed for less than $100 or you're screwing them. Nevermind that they ignored the $30 brake squeal...and then the $300 brake grind...and decided to bring it in when the caliper piston is grinding on the rotor vents. "It just started making this sound".....riiiiiight.

4. Shops will screw you - in a heartbeat and salesmen feed on the above-mentioned customer stupidity. The worst thing a customer could ever say is "is that bad?" Example: "Sir, your car overheated because the fan clutch went out". Customer - "Is that bad?" Salesman - "Weeeelllll, yes sir, we're going to have to replace your fan clutch, radiator and all hoses to eliminate all the 'overheat' from the system. You also have some other scheduled maintenance items you've missed. Here's a list..." I can't tell you how many times I got a sales ticket back from the counter with stuff that I didn't even recommend.

I've never gone to a shop since I left that job. I handle my fleet myself. I consider myself at least as qualified as anyone I'd take it to anyway. They only exception would be tire mount/balance and alignment.

Pretty much nailed it.

I will add the dealership experience, when a customer of an outside shop or even the shop themselves brings in one of their customers cars and balks at the price to get their shops mistake fixed right. And we fix it right and we're still the bad guys. Replaced their cheap a/m junk with proper quality parts, swapped out their junkyard control unit that can't be programmed to another car for a new one, fixed the vacuum leak with a $5 hose that kept throwing MAF codes after they replaced the MAF 6 times, etc, etc, etc....... Yes, it costs a little more when you bring the car to the dealer but that is because we spend time and lots of $$$ on technician training, special tools and diagnostic equipment. On top of that we specialize in "that car". We know the whatever and why that car is broken and if we don't, we have the resources to find the answer.

Our regular customers know the level of service we provide and are happy. The outsiders don't get it and must be content with dropping their car off at their shop for the same problem over and over while they keep guessing and throwing parts at it. I'm not saying every independant shop is like that but I see it here a lot.

 

[buffblazer]

I can't believe anyone would take a vehicle to places like pep boys or any of the name brand places.

You walk in the back and they have HS students working on your vehicle lol.

When I use to do pipeline work,the bosses always wanted to take the trucks to name brand places to get things fixed or normal maintenance

We once took a 2008 dodge 3500 to Walmart for an oil change. The 17 year old girl working on it double gasket the oil filter and my boss shredded the cummins 30 miles down the road.

 

[Big Ray]

Short story.....

My stepson lives in Ga....I live in Texas...

Brakes go bad on his car, so he takes it to Pep Boys to have them look at it....
I speak to the manager after they try to rip him off for 380 bucks for 2 rotors and 4 pads on a 2000 Toyota Camry....

I get the price down to a reasonable amount and they do the work....

He calls me a week later and says the brakes still don't feel right and the right front is popping and making a lot of noise...I tell him to bring it to a shop close by where he lives and have them inspect the CV joints and brakes and report back to me....

This is what they found...




Obviously they installed the wrong brake pads..... He is taking it back to pep boys tomorrow......If they give him some ****, I will drive all the way to Kennesaw Ga to introduce my size 13 Texan boots to someones ass If I have too.....

man .... the stupidity.......

did it get resolved?

 

[wasted wages]

Yup..... In fact he took it back in Saturday, and told them he had
it checked out by another shop and what was wrong...

They pulled it into the shop and fixed it without question.

The rotors were not damaged, but a piece of the caliper bracket was missing in action, so they installed a set of loaded calipers...

I can't believe anyone would take a vehicle to places like pep boys or any of the name brand places.

I try to do as much on the car when ever the G/F and I drive up to Ga. for a visit.....This time the rotor was getting scored so it was a matter of him taking it somewhere that was open on a Sunday.... Pep boys was convenient to him so that's where he ended up...I agree not the best place....and he learned a big lesson...

 

[Lifted87chevy]

I use to work behind the counter at pepboys while I was in highschool. And I will say. Not all their "techs" are qualified. The store I worked for had a guy put on dually rims backwards upfront. Almost drove out the garage that way until one of the good techs stopped him.

 

[4xcrazy]

I went one time with my old '88 IROC Camaro to get some tires for it. Luckily I was standing outside the bay door to watch the work, because the kid that was going to put it on the lift, lined up the lift pads directly under the body side skirts.

I promptly yelled out as I saw him place it there then walk to the other side to do the same to lift the car.

Pretty well the last time I even went there again for anything. I did waste time a few times walking through their store, or with a friend that was getting parts. But I never have bought anything from them.

Heck, as of the past year, I quit buying parts from Autozone as well, I'm tired of replacing "lifetime warranty" parts.

 

[chulisohombre]

It's posts like these that make me sad that quality work isn't done anymore. As soon as I was old enough I started fixing my moms car and snowmobiles. I've always fixed my own stuff if it was possible. I'm a cheap bastard 1, and 2 I can't trust that somebody else would do it right when intake it to them. I have one local shop that i take stuff to if I don't have the time or no how to do it myself. Most cases only reason I let them do it is its already there for inspection and I've had them do work for me before. You can't use a quick lube place to do quality work anymore. They are working on speed not quality. They want to get your car in out and forget about it and move on to the next guy. Unless you know a shop by word of mouth from friends that have used them before or you can see some of the work they've done and its been done correct don't use them. Research can sometimes help but most places are a general rating if the are not local and have a million shops nationwide. I've had much better luck with a local guy that's had his shop for enough years to have a steady customer base. It also helps that if you use the same guy he will recognize you and your vehicle and will want to give you the correct service to keep you coming back. I'm done now. Lol. Just hate to see people get screwed over.

 

[diesel4me]

My Ford was damaged by a goon who put a floor jack under the front fender,behind the tire, and jacked it up,to check the ball joints and tie rods during an inspection...he didn't bother looking under the car to see if the jack was going to crush any fuel or brake lines,or be in the right spot that could support the weight...it crushed the drip rail and bottom of the fender up,it did have a small rust hole the size of a dime underneath you cant see,so maybe it was a bit weaker than normal,but still--he should have taken more care before pumping the jack up...I let him know I was NOT happy when I saw the bottom of the fender and rocker bent up!....

I have seen many cars get damaged when put up on lifts,too often the mechanics dont look under the car or take much care in placing the lift arms,and they squash fuel or brake lines,damage the pinch welds on the rockers,or cave the floor up...more than one shop I've delivered parts too,had cars that were litteraly dangling off the lift,bouncing up and down as the mechanic pulled on a wrench,etc,like they were going to slide right off...this is why I dislike taking my car to anyone else to be fixed,if its going to get damaged,I would rather be the one who did it...

Many shops just dont care,and treat customers cars like junk---back when I had my 69 GTO,I caught the "mechanic" doing burnouts and dougnuts in the parking lot with it,when I got a ride to go pick it up.....

I felt like beating the s*** out of the punk,I pulled him out of the car by his ear lobes,lucky for him his boss came out before I decked him...he "deducted" 20 bucks off the bill to calm me down,but I was very pissed off,I told every customer at work who asked where a good garage was ,NOT to trust your car to those morons....I lost them a lot of buissiness!..

I learned many nice cars taken to them were beaten on "test drives" and one customer told me he wrote the mileage down,and said his car had been driven 55 miles,yet the shop owner swore "it never left the parking lot other than a short test drive"...another customer told me a friend saw his car in another town 15 miles away,on the day it was supposedly being "fixed"...(a car with a paint job no one could mistake for another too)...

I took my car in for a tranny filter & fluid change because I hated doing that at home,it took about half the tread off my rear tires and who knows how many miles off the life of the tranny...Just about every day I hear tires being smoked behind the Toyota dealership across the street from me,especially after 5 pm when the owners go home--the garage is open till 9pm,so the mechanics are likely "testing out" some of the customers cars ....

 

[454Sub]

Remember though about HS kids, they need a job too. And every one of the "best" mechanics, cooks, painters, plumbers, ect were "dumb HS kids" at one time. Gotta give them a break sometimes guys, cant get to the top without being on the bottom first.

Now deliberately tearing something up is completely stupid, but some mistakes are just lack of knowledge, which is learned by making mistakes.

 

[496truck]

But there is a difference between hiring a HS kid and letting them run loose...

or...

Having a trained tech watch over them and/or check their work.

There are also different types of kids starting out...

a. the type that used to fix things at home, such as bikes or help repair/maintain the lawnmower, etc and has a basic understanding of a tool box and what is in it.
b. the type that has no idea what the difference is between a wrench, a socket, or ratchet, let alone different sizes
c. the type that fixed mom's car better than any shop could, like somehow born with this mechanical aptitude

I've seen/been/worked with all of them. a. is trainable. c. is a natural wonder and sometime gets in over their head. b. is better off flipping burgers or bagging groceries nowhere near anything mechanical that involves a modicum of safety.